Louder AAA
Mongolia's ambassadors to the scene, The Hu helped popularise a new breed of folk metal that incorporated throat singing and traditional instruments such as the horsehead fiddle and the Tsuur flute. Their 2018 debut single, Yuve Yuve Yu, was authentic, innovative and as catchy as a cold, making the band a viral YouTube sensation.
Since then, the Ulaanbaatar metalheads have refused to stop doing incredible things: they’ve played pretty much every major metal festival, toured with Iron Maiden and even appeared in the Star Wars franchise. Horsehead fiddle player and backing vocalist Enkhsaikhan ‘Enkush’ Batjargal tells Hammer about the lessons he’s learned on this whirlwind journey, from his childhood in post-communist Asia to meeting his metal idols.
"My uncle is a monk who used to play bass guitar"
Enkush
THERE’S ANOTHER SIDE TO EVERYTHING
“I was born in 1990, just as communism fell in Mongolia. As a child, I couldn’t really grasp communist ideals, but what I do remember is everyone having a job. I appreciate the choices that democracy’s brought us, and the value of feeling free, but socialism also had its good side in that all of the people were looking out for each other. That mentality by itself wasn’t something that was bad.”
MONGOLIANS ARE NATURAL REBELS
“We’re kind of like the rebels of Asia. Under communism, Western ideals were banned, and heavy metal was part of that, too. Many people bought banned CDs from the black market. I know a brother – we call each other brothers – who was going to train at the police academy, but they were like, ‘Are you going to choose heavy metal? Or are you going to join the police?’ He was so hardcore he went, ‘I’m choosing rock!’”
ROCK’N’ROLL RUNS IN THE FAMILY
“My mum did her best to introduce her kid to international music. She used to play a lot of vinyls from Russia, and Russia was so heavy! She’d find them on the black market, bring them back to the countryside, and then have me listen to them. Ever since I was a baby, I used to hear heavy metal vinyls, and it made me fall in love with heavy metal.”
LEARN HOWEVER YOU CAN
“My uncle is a monk who used to play bass guitar. He was going to go to the capital [Ulaanbaatar] and form a band with his fellow monks called Nisvanis [named after the Buddhist term for negative emotions such as fear, anxiety and anger]. It turned out there was already a band called that, so they called it off and he went back to just being a monk. When I was a little kid, I tried out his bass, and he encouraged me to learn.”
NATIONAL IDENTITY MATTERS
“Mongolian identity was essentially banned under communism. After it fell, everyone was invested in trying to find who we are, and the horsehead fiddle has been part of the identity of Mongolia for generations. I loved music, and used to ‘play’ my mum and grandma’s hairpins like a horsehead fiddle, so they enrolled me into horsehead fiddle classes.”
I've been trying to play Redneck on the horsehead fiddle
Enkush
DON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER
“Under communism, every city had an art theatre where all the artistic people, like dancers and musicians, would gather under one roof with a director who auditioned kids. That carried on after communism ended. I auditioned for horsehead fiddle, but they initially refused to take me. They said my fingers were too small and that I should learn a wind instrument. I hated it! I was sword-fighting with the instrument with a classmate and I broke the damn thing.”
THROAT SINGING IS AS TRICKY AS YOU’D IMAGINE
“Not only do you need to have a talent for throat singing, you have to learn the technique, because it’s so heavy on your throat. You have to control your airflow, and if you stop doing it, your throat will go back to normal. It requires practice every day for the rest of your life.”
TRUST YOUR GUT
“When [producer] Dashka approached me about joining The Hu, I was in a traditional band that toured around Asia. He texted me, ‘Hey, I heard you’re really good at throat singing and horsehead fiddle, and I need you to audition.’ I felt so special because he was reaching out! I did the audition and loved the song, which was Yuve Yuve Yu. I was like, ‘Regardless of what my group is doing, I’m in!’”
MUSIC IS A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE
“Because Yuve Yuve Yu was on YouTube, we could see its success right there. Within a week, so many people responded. It shocked me how much the Western audience was commenting. So many reaction videos! I really appreciated how you could have the Western Hemisphere, the rest of Asia and the rest of the world responding to this traditional music with Western components. We were really grateful, and it put us into this good space of, ‘OK, let’s finish the album!’”
PLAYING DOWNLOAD IN 2019 WAS SHOCKING BUT INCREDIBLE
“Playing at Download and Rock Am Ring so early in our career, we were in shock! As traditional musicians, we toured around a lot individually, but to that scale, with that many people shouting your name, in that short a period of time, it wasn’t something we’d seen before. We believed in what we were doing, but we didn’t imagine that it was going to be that big of an audience that fast. We were so happy!”
MONGOLIAN CROWDS ARE VERY DIFFERENT TO INTERNATIONAL CROWDS
“Generally speaking, Mongolians are very stoic, and that transfers into the audiences. Expression is not a really big thing in Mongolia. The younger generations are doing better, but the difference is there. Western audiences are much more vocal in terms of how they feel; Mongolians loosen up after a drink or two.”
YOU NEVER KNOW WHO’LL BE A FAN OF YOUR WORK
“The fan that surprised me the most was Randy [Blythe] from Lamb Of God. It was our first tour, I was eating breakfast on the bus and looking out the window, and here he goes! I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m gonna go down and take a picture with him!’ Turns out, he was looking for our bus! He said that his brother showed him our music video.
I have got a big Lamb Of God tattoo on the back of my neck, so I showed him that. It was glorious! Lately, I’ve been trying Redneck on horsehead fiddle. It requires talent and a different approach, but it’s one of my go-to’s at the moment. If there’s enough interest, we might release it.”
MAKING IRON MAIDEN MONGOLIAN IS SURPRISINGLY EASY…
“The cover of The Trooper came together rather quickly. I played the horsehead fiddle solo, and that was tricky, but because I love those guys so much and we were about to tour with them, there was no way I wouldn’t make it happen.”
ROCK GODS CAN BE PRETTY DOWN-TO-EARTH
“Touring with them, we found out that Iron Maiden are legends for a reason. They’re highly regimented: onstage, absolute rock’n’rollers, but backstage, they’re so polite. They’d come individually to our room and say hello. We couldn’t play The Trooper onstage, because it was on their setlist, but I’d love for them to hear it live one day if the chance comes up.”
The alien language of Star Wars was perfect for throat singing.
Enkush
OTHER LANGUAGES DON’T NEED TO BE DIFFICULT
“We did a song [Sugaan Essena] for Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order that featured an alien language, and the language was actually perfect for throat singing. To be really fair, we didn’t just come up with the language. There is a Tenger belief in Mongolia [Tengrism, a shamanic faith centred around the sky god Tengri], and we’ve obviously interacted with the shamans and done historical research. We translated our lyrics into this ancestral language, basically. It fit like a glove.”
THERE ARE ALWAYS MORE POTENTIAL COLLABORATIONS
“We’re touring North America with Apocalyptica and The Rasmus. Would we ever do a song with Apocalyptica? They’re one of our idols, so if the chance was given, we’d love to! As a high school kid who was listening to Apocalyptica, I couldn’t imagine that we’d be touring with them at this level. No matter what your circumstances are, if you really, truly believe in what you have to do, that is gonna lead to the life you’ve always wanted.”
